RECAP: True Blood 207 “Release Me”

True Blood 207 review by Billie Doux.

Andy: “With a bull mask! And these giant claws!”
Bud: “Claws? Uh huh.”
Andy: “And the whole town had these big black saucer eyes like zombies!”

[Book note: I’m a big fan of the books and I remember what happened in pretty much all of them. But I am treating the series as separate and different, and I am not assuming *anything*. That’s why I haven’t mentioned obvious book stuff below about Maryann, Godric, Barry, and so on.]

This was one of those “plot threads in motion” episodes: all windup and no pitch. I always find it difficult to review this type of episode, even if it’s fun to watch. Here goes.

The Fellowship/vampire war is about to ignite, with the Stackhouses right in the middle of it. I like Jason a lot more now than I did in season one; I was especially pleased at the way he jumped to Sookie’s defense when Gabe slandered her. Is Jason dead? I doubt it. Sarah is such an emotional basket case that I doubt she could aim a gun with anything approaching accuracy. And her priorities are so all over the place. (I particularly loved her speech about God coming first as she was wriggling back into her panties.)

As Hugo the traitor fell apart, Sookie stayed calm. At least until Gabe attacked her, and Godric showed up. How? Eric couldn’t have gotten there that fast, could he? That means someone else let Godric go, or Godric was there… voluntarily. Which would make sense of Eric talking about how Godric was just too powerful to be caught by a bunch of boys with crosses and crossbows. Why would Godric be there voluntarily, though? (Please see “Book note” above.)

Okay, I’m a big Eric fan and a hopeless Sookie/Eric book shipper. What the hell is going on with Eric? We know that Eric is trying to take Sookie away from Bill, and it seemed like they spent some of this episode setting up the possibility that Eric would rescue her from the Fellowship. Instead, Eric is still all about Godric. Eric actually cried for Godric, which wasn’t in character at all, no matter how powerful a maker is. I’m frustrated. Can you tell?

So Bill was a vicious killer in 1926, and a good guy in 1935; he practically had to stake himself to get free of Lorena. How did he get over being monstrously evil? It’s not like the flu, you know. What changed him? Did he suddenly come home one night and decide that killing was wrong? Did the blood lust of vampire youth wear off, or did he just fall out of love with Lorena? I noticed that the victim Lorena chose for Bill looked almost exactly like the one in the 1926 Chicago flashback. Do vampires prefer blondes?

Bill now knows who summoned Lorena, and why. Oops.

Meanwhile, back in orgy city, we officially know what Maryann is now: a maenad, handmaiden of Dionysus, or possibly Satan. (Yes, I knew that was in the book. See “Book note” above.)

And Andy Bellefleur quite possibly to the rescue. Poor Andy was like the voice in the wilderness, screaming “Pig”, and no one would listen to him. And yet, since he’s the only one who can see what is really happening, maybe he’ll be the one to stop it. Him and Sam, maybe. At least now we know why Maryann is so obsessed with Sam: he got away from her, and she can’t control him because he’s a supe. Is that why Maryann scratched Sookie? Sookie is a supe? What kind of supe? (Again, see “Book note” above.)

The whole Hoyt/Jessica magical virginal love affair (with rose petals, even) has been like an isolated pocket of comedy and romance throughout all this. I hope it’s not about to end tragically.

Bits and pieces:

— Hoyt is 28. Jessica is only 17. Except that she’s not really a girl. I don’t think it matters; they *feel* the same age.

— Lorena is a really striking and convincing vampire. Maybe it’s the gleaming eyes.

— New bit of True Blood vampire lore: being forced to stay awake during the day causes bleeding from the orifices. Ick.

— Maryann and that dripping dead rabbit. Wow. She’s starting to remind me of Amy in season one: any psycho thing Maryann wants to do is automatically right and natural. Except Maryann is a lot scarier than Amy.

— Sam must go through a lot of clothes.

— What happened to Barry? He’s a good guy, if he went out of his way to help Sookie. I hope he’s okay. (And again, please see “Book note.”)

— I’ve started to like poor Eggs. He’s kind to Tara. It’s not his fault he had to kill Daphne (who, let’s face it, had a death wish). I wonder why Lafayette thinks Eggs is Satan in a Sunday hat?

— In the 1935 flashback, Bill was reading Gods & Monsters of Ancient Greece.

— I’m honestly not one to gush about the gorgeous (not to excess, anyway) but Eric by moonlight in that scene with Isabel? Holy wow.

— The cliffhangers were pretty much ruined by the preview for the next episode. Why do they do that?

Quotes:

Sookie: (reading board game titles) “Jesus Christ, Vampire Exterminator? Silver ‘n Stakes? Send Them Back to Hell?”

Sarah: (laughing and crying) “I thought I loved Steve. But I never even knew what love was until you just showed me.”
Jason: (freaked) “Wow. That’s ah, intense, huh?”

Jason: “Let’s think about this for a second. A, Steve has guns. Then there’s the lock-down tomorrow night. And secondly, we’re gonna be locked. In this church. With Steve and his guns. All night.”

Hoyt: “I ain’t never done it. With a girl, I mean.”
Jessica: “What have you done it with?”

Jessica: “I totally would have been a slut if I could have gotten away with it.”

Daphne: “Wild energy. Like lust, anger, excess, violence, basically all the fun stuff. Maryann brings it out in people.”

Arlene: “Thank you, Jesus, Santa Claus and Hare Krishna.”

Tara: “Are you telling me you date raped Terry Bellefleur?”

Interesting that Tara now knows that she and Arlene both blacked out the night before. Maybe she’ll talk to Sam, who’ll talk to Andy, and they could do something together?

True Blood has become the television highlight of my summer. Another rip roaring fun to watch episode,

Billie Doux

Billie Doux writes episode reviews and articles about sci-fi, fantasy and cult television shows. All her reviews can be found at BillieDoux.com.